8. And some to draw them from some particular duty.
9. And some tend to break and weaken their spirits, by grief or perplexity of mind.
10. And as the word is taken in the Old Testament, the snares that malicious men lay to entrap others in their lives, or liberties, or estates, or names, are called scandals. And all these ways a man may sinfully scandalize another.
And that you may see that the scandal forbidden in the New Testament, is always of this nature, let us take notice of the particular texts where the word is used. And first, to scandalize is used actively in these following texts: in Matt. v. before cited, and in the other evangelists citing the same words, the sense is clear; that the offending of a hand or eye, is not displeasing, nor seeking of ill report; but hindering our salvation by drawing us to sin. So in Matt. xviii. 8; and Mark ix. 42, 43, where the sense is the same. In Matt. xvii. 27, "Lest we should offend them," &c. is not only, lest we displease them, but lest we give them occasion to dislike religion, or think hardly of the gospel, and so lay a stumblingblock to the danger of their souls. So Matt. xviii. 6, and Mark ix. "Whoso shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me," &c. that is, not who shall displease them, but whoso by threats, persecutions, cruelties, or any other means, shall go about to turn them from the faith of Christ, or stop them in their way to heaven, or hinder them in a holy life: though these two texts seem nearest to the denied sense, yet that is not indeed their meaning. So in John vi. 6, "Doth this offend you?" that is, doth this seem incredible to you, or hard to be believed, or digested? Doth it stop your faith, and make you distaste my doctrine? So 1 Cor. viii. 13, "If meat scandalize my brother;" our translators have turned it, "If meat make my brother to offend." So it was not displeasing him only, but tempting him to sin, which is the scandalizing here reproved.
View also the places where the word scandal is used. Matt. xiii. 41, Πάντα τὰ σκάνδαλα, All scandals, translated, "All things that offend," doth not signify All that is displeasing; but all temptations to sin, and hinderances or stumblingblocks that would have stopped men in the ways to heaven. So in Matt. xvi. 23, (a text as like as any to be near the denied sense; yet indeed,) "Thou art a scandal to me," (translated an offence,) doth not only signify, Thou displeasest me, but, Thou goest about to hinder me in my undertaken office, from suffering for the redemption of the world; it was an aptitudinal scandal, though not effectual. So Matt. xvii. 7, "It must be that scandals come," (translated offences,) that is, that there be many stumblingblocks set before men in their way to heaven. So Luke xvii. 1, to the same sense. And Rom. ix. 33, "I lay in Zion a stumbling-stone, and a rock of scandal," (translated offence,) that is, such as will not only be displeasing, but an occasion of utter ruin to the unbelieving, persecuting Jews; according to that of Simeon, Luke ii. 34, "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel." Rom. xi. 9, "Let their table be made a snare, a trap, and a stumblingblock." The Greek word εἰς σκὰνδαλον doth not signify a displeasure only, but an occasion of ruin. So Rom. xiv. 13, expoundeth itself, "That no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall into his brother's way." The Greek word is, or a scandal. This is the just exposition of the word in its ordinary use in the New Testament.[136] So Rom. xvi. 17, "Mark them which cause divisions and scandals," (translated offences,) that is, which lay stumblingblocks in the way of christians, and would trouble them in it, or turn them from it. So 1 Cor. i. 23, "To the Jews a stumblingblock," that is, a scandal, (as the Greek word is,) as before expounded. So Gal. v. 11, "The scandal of the cross," translated the offence, doth signify not the bare reproach, but the reproach as it is the trial and stumblingblock of the world, that maketh believing difficult. So 1 John ii. 10, "There is no scandal in him," translated, no occasion of stumbling. These are all the places that I remember where the word is used.
The passive verb σκανδαλιζομαι, to be scandalized, is often used. As Matt. xi. 6, "Blessed is he that is not scandalized," (translated, offended in me,)[137] that is, who is not distasted with my person and doctrine through carnal prejudices; and so kept in unbelief: there were many things in the person, life, and doctrine of Christ, which were unsuitable to carnal reason and expectation. These men thought them to be hard and strange, and could not digest them, and so were hindered by them from believing: and this was being offended in Christ. So in Matt. xiii. 57, and Mark vi. 3, "They were offended in, or at him;" that is, took a dislike or distaste to him for his words. And Matt. xiii. 21, "When persecution ariseth, by and by they are offended;"[138] that is, they stumble and fall away: and Matt. xv. 12, "The Pharisees were offended," (or scandalized,[139]) that is, so offended as to be more in dislike of Christ. And Matt. xxiv. 10, "Then shall many be offended," (or scandalized,) that is, shall draw back and fall away from Christ. And Matt. xxvi. 31, 33; Mark xiv. 27, 29, "All ye shall be offended because of me," &c. "Though all men shall be offended (or scandalized) yet will I never be scandalized;" that is, brought to doubt of Christ, or to forsake him, or deny him, or be hindered from owning their relation to him. So John xvi. 1, "These things have I spoken that ye should not be offended;" that is, that when the time cometh, the unexpected trouble may not so surprise you, as to turn you from the faith, or stagger you in your obedience or hope. Rom. xiv. 21, doth exactly expound it; "It is good neither to eat flesh, or drink wine, or any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is scandalized, (or offended,) or made weak:" it is a making weak. So 2 Cor. xi. 29, "Who is offended;" that is, stumbled, or hindered, or ready to apostatize. So much for the nature and sorts of scandal.
IV. You are next to observe the aggravations of this sin. Which briefly are such as these:
1. Scandal is a murdering of souls; it is a hindering of men's salvation, and an enticing or driving them towards hell. And therefore in some respect worse than murder, as the soul is better than the body.
2. Scandal is a fighting against Jesus Christ, in his work of man's salvation. "He came to seek and to save that which was lost;" and the scandalizer seeketh to lose and destroy that which Christ would seek and save.
3. Scandal robbeth God of the hearts and service of his creatures; for it is a raising in them a distaste of his people, and word, and ways, and of himself: and a turning from him the hearts of those that should adhere unto him.